{"id":193324,"date":"2025-12-12T08:30:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-intends-to-seize-oil-from-tanker-captured-near-venezuela-white-house-says-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T08:30:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:30:21","slug":"u-s-intends-to-seize-oil-from-tanker-captured-near-venezuela-white-house-says-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-intends-to-seize-oil-from-tanker-captured-near-venezuela-white-house-says-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. intends to seize oil from tanker captured near Venezuela, White House says – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration plans to hold the oil tanker it seized in waters near Venezuela at an American port in Texas but release the crew once the vessel docks, according to two U.S. officials.
The officials said the tanker was seized in international waters. The American personnel on board the tanker have been interviewing the crew and offered for the U.S. to facilitate their travel from the ship after it arrives at a port in Galveston, Texas, the officials said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the U.S. would seize the oil on the tanker after it goes through a \u201clegal process\u201d to do so.
The U.S. seized the vessel, a large tanker known as the Skipper, on Wednesday during a joint operation by the Coast Guard and the Navy at President Donald Trump\u2019s direction as part of his effort to ratchet up the pressure on the Venezuelan regime. It comes amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela, with the Trump administration bombing alleged drug-smuggling vessels and building up military assets in the region. Trump also has threatened that Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s days in power are numbered.
The administration has said the tanker is used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. Leavitt called it \u201ca sanctioned shadow vessel, known for carrying black market sanctioned oil\u201d to Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
The administration has provided few details about the tanker, the fate of its crew or the legal rationale it used to seize the vessel.
Prosecutors for the U.S. attorney\u2019s office for the District of Columbia have been leading the investigation that led to the seizure, according to a spokesperson for the office. The spokesperson said the search warrant and the accompanying affidavit authorizing the seizure remain under seal in U.S. District Court in Washington. The U.S. attorney\u2019s office as of Thursday had not been given a timetable to unseal the warrant package, the spokesperson said.
A federal judge signed the warrant several weeks ago, a separate federal law enforcement official said.
Unsealing the warrant and the accompanying affidavit would provide details of the legal rationale for seizing the vessel.
The U.S. can cite a variety of reasons for any vessel seizures, including sanctions violations or illegal smuggling of drugs or weapons supporting designated terrorist organizations.
\u201cThe Trump administration is executing on the president\u2019s sanction policies,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world.\u201d
The Skipper is the same vessel the Treasury Department previously identified as the Adisa, an oil tanker tied to a sanctions-evading smuggling network that U.S. officials say moved Iranian oil to generate revenue for Hezbollah and Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The Adisa was owned through shell companies linked to network facilitator Viktor Artemov and used to transport oil on behalf of the smuggling network, according to a 2022 sanctions note from the Treasury<\/a>.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yv\u00e1n Gil Pinto described the seizure as a \u201cblatant theft.\u201d<\/a>
\u201cThe true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have been laid bare. It is not migration. It is not drug trafficking. It is not democracy. It is not human rights,\u201d Pinto said in a statement<\/a> on social media. \u201cIt has always been about our natural wealth, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.\u201d
Trump\u2019s aggressive approach to Venezuela, from the military strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats to threats of regime change, has drawn some support but also bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers\u2019 reaction to the seizure has been mixed and largely fallen on party lines.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Americans should expect more similarly aggressive actions from the Trump administration.
\u201cI think everybody ought to get used to this,\u201d Schmitt said. \u201cThis administration is very much focused on pivoting away from forever wars on the sands of the Middle East and actually protecting the American people in our own hemisphere. So, this isn\u2019t a one and done deal.\u201d
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Trump is \u201csleepwalking into a war with Venezuela.\u201d
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that the operation was led by the Coast Guard with support from the Defense and Justice departments, as well as the FBI.
\u201cIt was a successful operation directed by the president to ensure that we\u2019re pushing back on a regime that is systematically covering and flooding our country with deadly drugs and killing our next generation of Americans,\u201d Noem said at a congressional hearing Thursday.
NBC News has reported<\/a> that reported that the bulk of the drugs coming from Venezuela, more than 90%, are headed to Europe, not the U.S.
The ship\u2019s dramatic seizure is fueling speculation that Trump could greenlight a full-scale war against Venezuela if Maduro refuses to relinquish power on his own. Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch military strikes against Venezuela, saying it could be necessary to take out drug targets inside the country.
Trump\u2019s Pentagon has assembled one of the most massive military buildups in the region, estimated to be larger than that during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
The U.S. now has about 15,000 troops and a dozen ships, including America\u2019s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, deployed to the region, according to a defense official.
It also has more than 10 F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico, and a team of special forces is operating in the region.
The Pentagon has said that since early September, the military has struck more than 20 vessels the administration says wee smuggling drugs, killing more than 80 people. The administration has not put forward any evidence backing up its claims.
Late month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also signed an agreement in the Dominican Republican to secure U.S. access to the country\u2019s main airport and the San Isidro military base. The deal allows the U.S. for a limited time to refuel aircraft and transport equipment at restricted areas within the air base and at Las Am\u00e9ricas International Airport, officials said at the time.
The U.S. firepower now off Venezuela and the new access to Dominican runways give Trump a range of options to strike at the regime and the cartels from the air or on the ground.
Leavitt declined to speculate on Trump\u2019s ultimate objectives in the region or whether his pressure on Venezuela is only about drugs or also oil.
\u201cThe president has taken a new approach that has not been taken by any administration for quite some time to actually focus on what\u2019s going on in our backyard,\u201d she said, adding that his policy toward Venezuela is aimed at stopping the flow of illegal drugs to the U.S. and \u201cdemolish the foreign terrorist organizations and drug cartels\u201d in the region and around the world.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday evening, Trump was asked if the campaign against Venezuela is still focused on drugs or if oil is now part of the equation.
Trump said it’s \u201cabout a lot of things,\u201d arguing that one component had to do with criminals entering the United States.
\u201cSo it has to do with a lot of things,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey\u2019ve treated us badly, and I guess now we\u2019re not treating them so good.\u201d
Trump, who campaigned on extracting the U.S. from foreign conflicts, has not outlined for Americans why military action in Venezuela may be necessary, what risks it could entail for American troops or how it might benefit the U.S.
During his first administration, he seized tankers similar to the Skipper. In 2020, he directed U.S. personnel to seize four tankers bound for Venezuela carrying Iranian gasoline based on a federal court order, for instance. In that case, no military force was used, and the ships complied with the order.
Asked whether regime change in Venezuela is on the table and why Trump has taken more action against Venezuela in his second term, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement: \u201cPresident Trump has been clear in his message to Maduro: stop sending drugs and criminals to our country. President Trump is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country.\u201d
Gordon Lubold is a national security reporter for NBC News.
Monica Alba is a White House correspondent for NBC News.
Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.
Michael Kosnar is the Justice Department Producer for NBC News.
Dan De Luce\u00a0is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.\u00a0
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeWASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration plans to hold the oil tanker it seized in waters near Venezuela at an American port in Texas but release the crew once the vessel docks, according to two U.S. officials.The officials said the tanker was seized in international waters. The American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":193325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-193324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}